Tiger Zinda Hai review: Salman Khan WINS BACK our faith in him!

Movie: Tiger Zinda Hai

Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Paresh Rawal, Angad Bedi, Kumud Mishra, Pradeep Rawat

Director: Ali Abbas Zaffar

Production House: Yash Raj Films

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

You’d wonder whether Tubelight ruined everything for Salman Khan, but, wait till you catch a glimpse of him (yet again) in a super-thrilling Tiger Zinda Hai. Apart from the stunning visuals that have been handcrafted by Ali Abbas Zaffar and Tom Struthers, Bhai wins us all over again, which made us say to ourselves very silently: Salman bhi abhi zinda hai.

The events of Tiger Zinda Hai take place eight years after the leading pair of Ek Tha Tiger (Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif) base themselves and settle in Siberia. Now, Tiger and Zoya, who are now married with a kid, are on a voluntary retirement, but Tiger never stopped keeping tabs on RAW or his county, even if it required of him to hack their computers. He learns of a hostage situation in a hospital, which will be blown up in seven days as it is now also the base of a dreaded terrorist. In order to keep the country’s honour, Salman comes out of his retirement and then Zoya joins in. And then after that, expect it to go the way a Salman Khan action film does, except MUCH GRANDER in scale.

A surprise Easter egg out here is Paresh Rawal, who instantly becomes the best person to watch.

This film, we can comfortably say, is actually a human story, just the way how Ali Abbas Zaffar touted it to be. There’s love, anguish, sacrifice, patriotism, wit, charm and charisma amongst millions of other emotions that have been seamlessly bounded in this super-tight, no-nonsense and yet a hugely entertaining espionage thriller.

As far as Salman Khan and his acting is concerned, he really ROARS in this one. Undoubtedly, he is the centre piece and all it takes is his (or his veiny biceps’) presence to steal the frame away in a way that only he can, in spite of stripping him off his superstardom and charisma. He has proven that the inner fighter is still alive and is only coming back to roar harder. So, that’s Salman Khan #BeingTiger!

On the other hand, we never really thought that Katrina Kaif would do more than what we already saw in the promos, and we can tell you that NO ONE was as happy as us to see Kat in a total badass avatar. It was just lovely to see how she utterly belittled Khan when the time was right. She promises you a total boss lady of a Zoya, and she keeps that promise till the very end.

Talking about the baddie, Sajjad Delfrooz, surprisingly, delivers a very bland performance. It was almost like he was expecting his overall persona and his long beard to do the trick. Although his actions are what drives this thriller, he alone wouldn’t have given us the baddie chills that some actors give us almost effortlessly.

All in all, it’s a great masala entertainer that doesn’t really come without some shortcomings. We have spoken enough and the only few hiccups are a few lame jokes, some really poor CGI and out of sync conversations. But hey, it’s easy to overlook them!

This film is made for all to have a gala time at the movies this year end. Make the best of it!